Posts Tagged ‘Field Of Intelligence’

Within our chiropractic training and culture is a diverse range of physical indicators that we observe, measure and monitor to help us to diagnose our patients’ physical state: The history is used to narrow down our list of disorders or even diseases which may be causing the problem; Posture tells us how misaligned someone’s body and spine is; Radiographs show us how much decay and degeneration has developed; Range of motion tests measure how stiff they have become; SEMG assesses how tight muscles are; our palpation skills feel where there is contraction, restriction, fixation and misalignment.

And then we apply a physical therapy to try and intervene on the physical disorder that we have isolated.

It has almost become a cliché that there is a mind/body connection. But have we tended to minimise this relationship? Or have we even missed the point of this revelation? Are we persisting with the convenient separation and compartmentalisation of these two dimensions? We say, “oh yes the mind can affect the body, and the body can affect the mind” – but in saying this do we miss the paradigm of the mind/body relationship?

In other words the mind IS the body, and the body IS the mind.

When you are feeling certain emotions like anger, resentment, guilt, frustration – your physical body is different to how it is when you are feeling emotions like love, acceptance, peace, joy, reward. And if your physical body is different, then your thoughts, feelings and emotions are different. One doesn’t lead to the other – one is the other.

Let’s take another look at our list of “physical indicators” from another point of view, to see if we can see what they might really mean in terms of the mind/body:

The History is really someone’s story about the suffering they currently feel. And we are very good at asking questions about how the suffering feels: Where it hurts, how much it hurts, how big an area does the hurt cover, when does it feel a bit better and when does it feel a bit worse? But do we miss the most important question? What does the hurt mean – to them? Here’s another way of asking this question to help those who can’t make a connection – “if this hurt didn’t go away what would it mean you couldn’t do?”, or “if this hurt didn’t go away what aspect of your life do you think would be most affected?” Do you know that if something in your therapeutic relationship and encounter doesn’t allay or release this connection between their pain and suffering, that their mind/body will resist healing?

Postural Assessment: Why does anyone have bad posture? Because they don’t know they have it! Why would anyone carry their head too far forwards when that skull and its contents are as heavy as a bowling ball? Because they don’t recognise that it is where it is – they have poor somatic awareness. Here’s a thought – they will also have a proportionately poor psychic awareness. In other words they will actually have poor somatopsychic awareness. Check it out next time you examine someone with really bad posture: Ask them how they are feeling emotionally, ask them how aware they are of each of their internal bodily functions: More often than not the same disconnect will exist.

What about those protective buttresses that are being layered down inside their body – the ones you see growing around their skeleton on their Radiographs? Ask yourself this question: How strong, thick and solid are the protective mechanisms that this person has built around their emotions and memories? What will it take to chip away this person’s emotional fortress? The resistance, slowness of their recovery and the common poor prognosis could be reflective of their hardened interaction with the world in a more general sense.

And that stiffness that has built up in their Spinal Range of Movement, that you prescribe stretching exercises to reverse. Here is my observation: Range of motion is directly proportionate to range of emotion. My saying goes like this – “concrete body – concrete mind”. Observe how flexible these people are to suggested changes in their state of mind or lifestyle, and you may see a mirror image of their body’s flexibility.

What about that tension that you see on their SEMG? You may interpret it as physical tension: And you might ask; “maybe you are working too hard”, “maybe you did too much gardening on the weekend”, “maybe you aren’t sitting up straight”? How about this one – muscle tension is proportionate to neurological tone, which is dependent on emotional state. Maybe their body hasn’t been working overtime – maybe their mind has.

And all those things you “feel” while you are Palpating: Stiffness, resistance, swelling, and misalignment. Have you ever taken a moment to ask yourself while you have a direct connection with this person’s field of intelligence: “What am I feeling as I palpate this person?” You may be great at palpating, but, if you get good at feeling, then you will get even better at FEELING. You may even glean more insight into that person’s state of wellbeing in thirty seconds of palpation than sixty minutes of talk…

How does any of this help you to become a better healer, or a more profitable businessman? When you GET IT, that you are a body/mind and that your practice members are body/minds – Then you will experience greater quality and wholeness in your life, and your customers will receive greater quality and wholeness from you as a healer – and people pay for quality…

(ps. If you think that this is suggesting that you have to become more of a psychologist or counsellor to be a better chiropractor – then you have missed the point – this has nothing to do with analysing and identifying the past hurts and experiences and helping someone to cognitively overcome the related dysfunctional thoughts and feelings. What this is about is that there is a whole new dimension awaiting you when you become more conscious of the mind/body synergy – what you are doing right now therapeutically will offer a much deeper meaning for both you and your practice members. In other words I am not talking about a change in procedure – but a change in consciousness.)

Many aspects of chiropractic practice have evolved - there have been so many modern developments from within our profession, and from complementary professions - many of which make daily practice simpler, more efficient, more effective, more objective, and even more profitable… Whether we talk about the computerisation and even automation of our front desks, technological advancements in our investigative tools, online education and marketing tools, new and diverse technique systems, in-house entertainment and educational multimedia, online and electronic banking options, and I could go on…

But at the same time could it be that as we utilise more and more technologies, and become more dependent on machines to make decisions and record memories for us - That our own innate and intuitive recording, analysing and comparative skills may be withering and vanishing?

How seriously and consciously do you control what you are seeing and absorbing in your mind’s eye, as you are working on each and every practice member, on each and every visit? This was named INTENT by our pioneers.

While you are leaning over and assessing your patients: Are you thinking about what you are going to have for lunch, reviewing your golf swing, planning your next holiday, worrying about your debts, or even rewinding the last patient who was complaining that you hadn’t fixed them yet?

Make a commitment to include the following steps as you examine and treat each person…

1) Become One: When you enter into someone’s field of intelligence (their personal space), you are being allowed into a very privileged place - AND you also enter into a dimension where you can gather enormous perceptions about the state of mind and body of that person - IF you are willing to perceive and observe them! The way to take this to its full potential is to comprehend that when you enter into this “zone” you and your patient become one. Have you ever started to feel angry, sad, frustrated, or agitated while adjusting someone - guess what - it might not be you feeling it - it may be them. See if you can develop this skill of knowing more about your clients than they know about themselves…

2) Visualise: As a Chiropractor, you are extremely blessed, because you have done some of the most comprehensive anatomical, physiological, biomechanical, neurological and even pathological studies possible. As you examine and adjust each person, develop “XRay Vision”: Visualise the structures and functions that you are examining and adjusting as you perform each procedure. Makes the job much more interesting and fascinating. Your diagnostic and technical skills will improve in a quantum leap if you integrate this one skill…

3) See Whole: This transports your visualisation skills to the next dimension: Making the jump from observation, to influence! See the fixated joints start to move again; visualise a person’s alignment being restored; feel the surge of nerve flow and energy transmission; envision cells, tissues, organs and beings becoming whole and vital once again…

When we teach Torque Release Technique we equip you with a comprehensive range of indicators which you use in your ongoing evaluations of your patients’ state of wellbeing, and degree and location of Subluxation. These build and strengthen your intuitive and innate abilities to perceive and differentiate what condition someone is in, AND where and how they need to be adjusted.

When you put this all together you achieve what is probably best described as TOTAL CERTAINTY.